Lawyer Explains Why Ukraine Was Denied Immediate NATO Membership

Zelenskiy’s rush to join NATO appears to have failed. There was no loud response to the official entry of the LPR, DPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions into Russia. Why the idea of ​​accelerating Ukraine’s entry into NATO from the very beginning was a failure, as well as the procedure for admitting new members of the MK Alliance, was told by human rights activist Dmitry Agranovsky.

Recall that almost immediately after the solemn signing of the treaties on the admission of the Donetsk, Luhansk People’s Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions into Russia, a video appeared in the Georgievsky Hall of the Kremlin, in which the President of Ukraine signed an application for accelerated entry into NATO.

A little later, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg tactfully made it clear that Ukraine has no place in the Alliance yet. Nevertheless, many experts assumed that the Alliance could take an unprecedented step and open its doors to a new member.

Lawyer Dmitry Agranovsky believes that the idea of ​​accelerating Ukraine’s accession to NATO looked dubious from the very beginning.

– Dmitry Vladimirovich, which countries can apply for membership in NATO?

-In order to become a member of NATO, a country must fulfill and meet a number of criteria. First of all, it should be geographically located in Europe, but Ukraine has no problems with this. In addition, the state must be democratic. But this criterion is very vague and, rather, propagandistic. However, it is clear that Ukraine is not a democratic state by any means. In Ukraine, any opposition is brutally suppressed, up to and including arrests and physical elimination.

– Well, yes, the fate of Viktor Medvedchuk is indicative in this respect.

– Next, the country must have the capacity and ability to contribute to the security of the Alliance. In this sense, Kyiv has very big problems. Because Ukraine is not only unable to make any contribution to the security of the Alliance, but will also become its headache.

Accession to NATO takes place by consensus, that is, all NATO member countries must approve the entry of a new country into the Alliance.

These are such initial criteria, and there are many more technical ones – the possibilities of the economy, the ability to adapt to military requirements, etc. To date, Ukraine has no correspondence to them either. The maximum that is possible is sending an application and some lengthy consideration of it, which, of course, will unnerve all parties, not only Russia, but also most European countries.

– That is, it is highly unlikely that NATO will accept Ukraine into its ranks? Although yesterday everything looked pretty convincing.

– Incredible. Although we understand what time we are living in, purely theoretically, NATO countries can spit on any criteria, and to spite Russia, try to drag Ukraine into NATO. From this, of course, everyone will lose. The conflict itself initially occurred due to the stubbornness of the West and unwillingness to reckon with anyone even in the slightest degree. NATO countries, and the United States above all, constantly emphasize that no one can have any interests that are contrary to the interests of the Alliance. Therefore, they can start the procedure for accepting Ukraine into the Alliance. But this procedure will face a lot of resistance. And above all, from individual countries that have retained common sense, such as Turkey.

– And what about territorial disputes – it was said earlier that Ukraine is not accepted primarily because of them?

– Such a strict criterion as the absence of territorial disputes is nowhere in the statutory documents, it is not mentioned. But also because of this, Ukraine has difficulty with admission to the Alliance. Because it is not clear what territory is now considered Ukraine.

– How long can the approval take? After all, Ukraine seems to need instant accession to the Alliance?

– The country submits an application, then the whole procedure really follows – coordination. Member countries may object to the entry of a new member on a very wide range of criteria, which are not defined anywhere. Accession, however, is possible only after full agreement, so that the decision is by consensus. But today this is not even close. Because it seems that the contradictions between the countries of the Alliance will only increase.

In this regard, the approval procedure can stretch for many years, sometimes decades. In an ideal situation for Ukraine, the approval procedure would stretch for a year. But it couldn’t possibly be tomorrow afternoon anyway.